AMA

Another new year marks the era of another new set of bikes available on the market. The newest supersport bikes are supporting lairy looks, crazy colors and eye-catching exhausts. The newest fairings are showing the creativity that can be used with advancing technologies in plastic moulding and metal machining that can be used to make them look awesome, while still being functional.

Many motorcycle fairings that are coming out are sporting new matt paint finishes. This is giving the bikes mean looks that haven’t been seen before. There is also the addition of carbon fiber parts into high-end supersport bikes to make them lighter, but also to make them better looking.

The latest fairings that are coming to light on bikes such as the new Kawasaki Ninjas and the BMW S1000RR are showing bold lines that were not possible before, but new advances in technology are making them possible. There are also several concept bikes such as the new Lamborghini concepts, which are sporting the same bold likes and triangular shapes. These are also present in the new 2015 Honda CB 750 concept that is floating around. Making it clear which direction the design of motorcycles in moving in.

The latest Yamaha fairings are also sporting these new strong shapes, which is not only clear in their motorcycles but also their other vehicles too. The addition of LED lights to most of the bikes this year is making the design of fairings easier as less space needs to be allocated to once large light units. The integration of LED lights into most wing mirrors has also improved aesthetics, as they aren’t sticking out the side of the main fairings. However, this may be annoying for some who opt for removing their mirrors regularly for track days.

These improvements are not only coming to supersport bikes though. The latest sport bikes and touring bikes are also being updates, making these look sportier without compromising the ride comfort. This is also evident in the latest street bikes, making ones such as the new ER-6n Kawasaki Fairings and the Ducati Streetfighter look very mean with their latest headlights and what fairings they do have.

The older style bikes are not to be left out either. The new Norton Commando bikes are styled very well, although their fairings are still good ol’ metal, they do not disappoint. With up to date electronics and LCD tachometers these bikes have been nudged into the 21st century, but not by much. Still giving you the look and feel of an old Norton, without the troubles with reliability and electric controls as stock. Making them more reliable for use as an everyday bike for those that would like to don their old leathers and ride a blast from the past.

Overall, it looks like an exciting year for motorcycles and I look forward to seeing what is going to be revealed over the coming months. From the looks of it, we have a lot to look forward to see in the summer.

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Triumph Big Kahuna Atlanta: Round 2 of AMA Superbike took place over the weekend in Braselton, Ga. and featured one of the most improbable victories ever when Blake Young (Yoshimura Racing Suzuki GSX-R1000) crashed, yet recovered to win race 1 on Saturday. Young and series leader and returning champion Josh Hayes (Monster Energy Graves Yamaha YZF-R1) became entangled on lap 14 causing Young to be slammed to the track. The incident drew a red flag which forced a restart. The rules said that Young had to start from the last row of the grid. After the first lap of the restart Young had already worked his way up to fourth. Hayes and Young traded the lead until the last lap when Young was able to hold off Hayes for an amazing 0.293 second win.

Said Hayes: “For him to be able to get his stuff together and get back out there and race the way he did… bravo. Man, I think it’s a great story. It was a hero ride and it’s great for our sport. Big congrats to him.“

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18 year old Elena Myers became the first woman to win a professional motorcycle race at Daytona on Saturday (March 17) by taking the AMA Pro Motorcycle Superstore.com SuperSport race. It was the second win for Myers (she also won at Infineon in May 2010). Myers edged out Suzuki rider Corey Alexander and Yamaha rider Hayden Gillim by .240 seconds for the historic win. Elena has been racing since age 8 and her goal is to one day race in the MotoGP. Last year at Indianapolis Speedway Myers impressed many when she was given the chance to ride Alvaro Bautista’s Suzuki GSV-R prototype MotoGP machine for a few hot laps. We’ll be hearing a lot more from her I’m sure.

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As 2011 draws to a close I thought I’d post about some of the memorable, and tragic, events that shaped the past year in the world of motorcycling.

Marc Coma

Marc Coma opened the year by winning the 32nd running of the Dakar Rally (his third win) finishing 15 minutes ahead of defending champion Cyril Despres after Despres was assessed a 10 minute penalty earlier in the race. 15 minutes after 5,900 miles of racing over 13 days. There were 200 motorcycles and all-terrain vehicles, 140 cars, and 67 trucks in this year’s event through Argentina and Chile. Dakar and the New Year go hand in hand for me and I cannot wait for this year’s race to start on New Year’s Day. Click here for some spectacular photos of Dakar. If you do, I’m sure you’ll be an instant fan.

Casey Stoner

Casey Stoner easily won the MotoGP championship as Honda and Yamaha dominated and Ducati continued to struggle to keep up.

Cori and I were at New Jersey Motorsports Park to watch Graves Yamaha’s Josh Hayes win the AMA Superbike Championship by a mere 5 points on the season’s final weekend over Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Blake Young. It was the first pro motorcycle race for each of us and were instantly hooked by the speed and sound and amazing display of courage and skill.

Ninja 1000

Motorcyclist Magazine named the Kawasaki Ninja 1000 it’s motorcycle of the year and Eric Buell its motorcyclist of the year.

Nancy Sabater was named AMA Motorcyclist of the year for leading a grass roots effort to repeal the motorcycle lead law which would have banned the production of ATV’s and motorcycles for children. Sabater and others convinced the government to exempt motorcycles from the law (given that there’s little chance the parts of a motorcycle that contain trace amounts of lead will ever end up in a child’s mouth). Thanks to Nancy and others logic prevailed over legislation for a change.

Marco Simoncelli tragically lost his life in a MotoGP race in Malaysia in October. This well liked 24 year old former 250cc world champion was a rising star in MotoGP. If you’ve not watched a MotoGP race you don’t know what you’re missing.

On a personal note I started this blog which has been a labor of love and Southeast Pennsylvania Adventure Motorcycle Touring, a group I started at the end of 2010 has grown to nearly 100 members. Cori and I enjoyed meeting and riding with new people and we finished the year incident free as a group and with big plans for 2012. If you’re anywhere near Philadelphia in 2012 drop me an email and we’ll arrange a ride, either with our group or with Cori and I, we’re both free spirits who love to ride together.

As 2011 draws to a close I find myself reflecting, much as I do after every ride, about how fortunate I am to have discovered a hobby/lifestyle/sport like motorcycling that satisfies, thrills, soothes, inspires and excites like it does. Whatever you ride, cruiser, dresser, sport bike, motocross, enduro, I’m sure you feel the same way. I love everything about all kinds of riding. Hopefully you feel the same. Stop in from time to time and I’ll try and make sure there’s something interesting or at least entertaining for you to read, watch or listen to about every facet of motorcycling in 2012.